Years 1-6 information guide - PRIMSG 2018 - Te Kura
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years 1-6
information guide
PRIMSG 2018Information for new students and their families Welcome to Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (Te Kura). This guide for supervisors, family and whānau contains important information to help your student get the most out of learning with us. Please take the time to read it, and contact us if you have any questions. Our contact details are on the inside back cover.
Contents
Learning with us 2
Online learning 3
What your student needs 5
Submitting learning activities 7
Your student’s progress 9
Help and support 12
Contacting us 17
Years 1–6 Information Guide 1Learning with us On enrolment at Te Kura, your student will be assigned a learning advisor (teacher), who will contact you. Your student’s learning advisor will work with you and your student to develop a learning programme based on your student’s interests, abilities and learning needs. We use a mix of online, print and other resources suited to each student’s needs. Assessment is often online, and helps the learning advisor to personalise learning for your student. Your student’s learning advisor will contact you and your student regularly by email, phone, video conference, mail or through our online learning environment My Te Kura, to discuss your student’s learning. Our learning advisors want to hear from you and your student regularly, and you should feel free to contact them at any time. Learning in the early years is collaborative, between learning advisor, student and supervisor. 2 Years 1–6 Information Guide
Online learning
Learning programmes often use both online and digital delivery of resources.
We are gradually transitioning more materials online and expect all programmes
will include some online learning this year.
Online resources typically include quizzes, games, audio and video files as
well as practical activities students can complete away from the computer.
If your student is learning online, activities will be delivered through our
online learning environment My Te Kura. Through this online environment your
student can communicate with their learning advisor and peers online, work
collaboratively with other students and share ideas.
Your student can learn digital literacy skills in a safe and supportive environment.
To succeed in the digital world, where technology is part of everyday life, learning
how to use it effectively is an essential skill.
Cybersafety and digital citizenship
The internet and other digital technologies offer educational and social benefits
to students. It’s also important to be aware of the risks. We encourage you to
talk to your student about the safe use of the internet on a regular basis. Being
aware of the risks enables children and young people to make safer decisions
when they are using digital channels.
Being a responsible digital citizen involves:
• protecting personal information online
• behaving responsibly towards others online
• managing potentially risky situations
• judging the credibility of material found on the internet.
There is more information about cybersafety and online behaviour in our online
learning environment My Te Kura, and on the Netsafe website www.netsafe.org.nz
Years 1–6 Information Guide 3Online support The Student and Whānau Support team at the Hub are here to help you and your student if you have trouble with online access or just get stuck. Don’t hesitate to give them a ring or send an email to get back on track. You can contact the Hub on 0800 65 99 88 option 2 from 8am to 5pm on weekdays, or email hub@tekura.school.nz 4 Years 1–6 Information Guide
What your student needs
Stationery and materials
Students are required to provide their own stationery supplies. Your student’s
learning advisor will advise you if you require any specific resources.
Online learning
Your student’s learning advisor will discuss whether your student will be learning
online. If your student is learning online, they will require the following.
Computer
A suitable device is one that enables your student to access the internet and
My Te Kura (via a web browser), make audio and video recordings and create
and edit documents. The device will need a webcam for your student to
interact online.
Internet connectivity
Every student learning online needs a broadband internet connection (dial-up
internet is not suitable) and at least 30GB of data per month.
Software
My Te Kura provides access to a lot of the software and tools your student will
need to learn online, along with instructions on how to use them. Other free
software and online tools your student will need include:
• an email account – Te Kura offers all students a ‘My Te Kura’ email account
• internet browser – we recommend Google Chrome
• word processing software – students can download free Microsoft software
• PDF editing software – there are different options available which enable
students to write directly into PDF files, save their work and upload it to
My Te Kura for assessment
• anti-virus software
• a Te Kura Gmail account for access to Google Docs – this will be set up for
you on enrolment at Te Kura.
Years 1–6 Information Guide 5Optional extras If your student is studying online there are some items that would be useful for them to have: • access to a printer and scanner • digital camera or mobile phone with camera • graphics, image editing or drawing software • headset with microphone or inbuilt computer microphone. 6 Years 1–6 Information Guide
Submitting learning activities
Returning completed learning activities online or by email
If your student is learning online:
• follow any instructions provided in My Te Kura for submitting completed
learning activities
• use a word processing programme such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs
• use the tools available in My Te Kura to record oral language, music or voice
messages
• include your student’s name and student ID number in the file name of any
documents or audio/video files
• use a scanner, digital camera or webcam to send scans of completed
learning activities, photos of mathematics, artwork or projects.
You can also send completed learning activities to your student’s learning
advisor as email attachments. The standard address for learning advisors is:
firstname.surname@tekura.school.nz
Returning completed learning activities by post
If your student is using paper learning resources sent by their learning advisor,
send your student’s completed learning activities as soon as they finish them.
Don’t wait to hear from the learning advisor before going on with new learning
activities. Regular returning of completed learning activities will ensure your
student’s learning advisor can give regular feedback and send learning material
suited to their learning needs.
Before sending completed learning activities to your student’s learning advisor,
go through this list. Check that your student has:
• completed all the activities they are able to do
• checked any student-marked activities
• completed the self-assessment – this is usually found on a booklet’s inside
back cover
Years 1–6 Information Guide 7• told the learning advisor of any problems by writing a note, emailing them, or including an audio message • if using their own paper, numbered the pages and written a title • written their name on the booklet and any other paper that is being sent • included any audio recordings they have made • added the address card. When you’re ready to return your student’s completed learning activities by post: 1. Put all the items you want to return into a green plastic posting bag. 2. Use one of the address cards provided, making sure the school’s address details are showing. 3. Include the student’s name and ID number on the top left corner of the address card. 4. Seal the bag with sticky tape. No postage is necessary if sending within New Zealand. Live outside New Zealand? If you are living overseas, you will access most of your student’s learning materials digitally. You should return completed student learning activities online or by email. If you are required to return completed learning by post, send only what your student’s learning advisor has requested. Include all the checklists, comment pages, recordings, and photos of artwork. Return resource books and audio- visual resources with the completed learning. Always include your student’s ID number and the topic code. This will then be assessed and returned by airmail at no cost to you. Biosecurity New Zealand rules prohibit any biological specimens being sent through the mail. For example, do not send any seeds, leaves or food. For more information, visit www.biosecurity.govt.nz 8 Years 1–6 Information Guide
Your student’s progress
Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) set aspirational goals which identify your
student’s next learning steps. They are developed in consultation with you and
your student and are used by your student’s learning advisor to develop your
student’s programme of learning. The ILP process throughout the year is:
Term 1 (or within eight weeks of enrolment throughout the year) – set the ILP
goals with the student, supervisor, whānau and learning advisor.
Term 2 – mid-year report on progress towards goals and overall comment on
progress and achievement of all learning areas. Review of ILP goals and new ILP
goals set if required.
Term 4 – end-of-year report against ILP goals and overall comment on progress
and achievement for all learning areas.
If your student is in in their first three years at school, their progress is assessed
every six months, on the anniversary date of when they began at a school.
Learning advisors record this into reports, shortly after the assessment. This can
be at any time of the year.
If your student is learning online with My Te Kura, as their supervisor you’ll be
able to view the content of their online learning, as the student sees it, and can
see if they have uploaded any work to the dropbox. Supervisors can also see
feedback from the learning advisor which has been put in the dropbox, though
they cannot open files the student has uploaded.
We recommend you familiarise yourself with My Te Kura and the specific
requirements of online learning your student is enrolled in. You should ask to
see your student’s learning activities before they are uploaded to the dropbox
and returned for marking.
The supervisor section on our website www.tekura.school.nz has more
detailed information on how to log in to My Te Kura as a supervisor.
Years 1–6 Information Guide 9Assessment
Assessment is an essential part of the teaching and learning process. The
learning advisor will assess your student’s completed learning and provide
feedback and feedforward to your student and you as their supervisor, and the
wider whānau if applicable. This assessment provides the basis for planning the
next steps for your student’s individual learning programme.
Students in Years 1–6 are assessed against the National Standards in reading,
writing and mathematics. The results are reported to parents/whānau in the
mid- and end-of-year reports.
The diagram below shows how curriculum levels typically relate to years at
school. Note that many students do not necessarily fit this pattern, for
example, those with learning support needs or those who are working at an
accelerated learning pace.
Years and Curriculum levels
8 NCEA
Level 3
7 NCEA
Level 2
6 NCEA
Level 1
5
4
3
2
1
Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Y7 Y8 Y9 Y10 Y11 Y12 Y13
Diagram (adapted): Levels of Achievement by Years of Schooling, in the New Zealand Curriculum, first published by Learning Media Ltd on behalf of the Ministry of Education,
Wellington, NZ. Copyright © Crown, Curriculum Doc, 2007. Used by permission.
10 Years 1–6 Information GuideDiagnostic assessments
During the year, students will be sent a range of assessments in reading,
writing and mathematics. These assessments provide valuable information for
planning a student’s learning programme to progress learning. Please have
your student complete and return these within two weeks of receiving them.
Students with internet access will have some assessments set online, for
example, e-asTTle reading (Years 4–6), e-asTTle writing and PAT Mathematics
(Years 4–6). It is important that your student does the assessment themselves,
for your student to make the best progress.
Attendance
In New Zealand, students between the ages of 6 and 16 must be enrolled in
a school and must attend school. For our students, attendance means your
student sends in completed learning for assessment regularly.
It is important that your student sends in completed learning activities at least
every two weeks. This will help your student to progress in their learning.
If your student does not send in completed learning activities for an extended
period of time, they are considered to be truanting, and cannot remain on our
roll. If they are under 16 years old, we must notify the Ministry of Education’s
District Truancy Service.
We will send you a letter if your student has not sent back any completed
activities after a month. They will be taken off our roll if no completed activities
are received by the end of the second month.
If special circumstances, such as illness, have prevented your student from
returning completed activities, please contact your student’s learning advisor
to discuss the situation.
Years 1–6 Information Guide 11Help and support Keeping in touch Our learning advisors recognise the importance of having a good relationship with students and their supervisor, family and whānau. We are here to support your student’s learning and encourage regular contact through our online learning environment My Te Kura or by email, phone, video conference or mail. The standard email address for learning advisors is: firstname.surname@ tekura.school.nz The Student and Whānau Support team at the Hub are here to help you and your student with online learning. Whether it’s My Te Kura, Google Classroom or online assessments, they’ll help you get it sorted. Don’t hesitate to give them a ring or send an email if you are having trouble with online access or just get stuck. You can contact them on 0800 65 99 88, option 2 from 8am to 5pm on weekdays, or email hub@tekura.school.nz If you have any queries or concerns about your student’s ongoing eligibility to be enrolled at Te Kura, please contact the Enrolments section of the Student and Whānau Support team, on option 1. Supporting your student’s learning As your student’s supervisor, you play an important role in supporting your student and helping them to develop the skills and knowledge to become successful learners. Here are some tips on how you can provide support and encouragement to your student: • always have water available where your student is learning • be prepared ahead of time • plan a daily routine together • set small goals for success and celebrate them on completion • talk about what your student has learnt each day 12 Years 1–6 Information Guide
• discuss and mark your student’s completed learning with them each day
• give plenty of immediate feedback and praise – this will help your student’s
learning
• ask questions to stimulate thinking and inquiry
• help with science/technology experiments
• take time to read and discuss books with your student
• send in regular recordings of your student reading
• assist your student to access appropriate online resources
• recognise any special interests your student has and try to find ways to
integrate them into learning experiences
• set up a Learning Journal with your student to record progress - this could
be a digital journal, exercise book or large scrapbook
• talk with your student about the feedback from their learning advisor
and write any thoughts you both have about that learning: for example, a
comment at the end of each week. Your student’s learning advisor will be
interested to see this.
Tips for checking completed learning before it is sent to the teacher for
assessment:
• Help your student maintain a written record of what has been completed
and sent to the learning advisor.
• Use your student’s learning journal to record learning progress and
individual learning plan goals.
The supervisor section on our website has more detailed information to help
you support your student.
Years 1–6 Information Guide 13Planning your student’s timetable It is suggested that you put aside enough time for your student to become involved in each of the eight learning areas of the New Zealand Curriculum. We recommend: • Daily 1–1.5 hours of reading, written language, oral language, handwriting and spelling. This might happen through areas such as sciences or social sciences, and through an inquiry project. This time is spent interspersed with other activities. • Daily 45–60 minutes of mathematics needs to be included. Sometimes mathematics will be part of an inquiry project. Young students will need this time broken up and connected with other relevant activities. Te Reo Māori or another language may be studied as well. • Daily 20–30 minutes of physical activity should be programmed. • Weekly up to 3 hours in the arts, which may include visual arts, dance, drama and music. • Weekly about 6 hours for inquiry learning, or integrated units your learning advisor has provided. These will cover several learning areas such as science, social studies, technology, health and physical education. There may be times when most learning areas are covered by learning activities on a student’s own area of interest. To help you plan for the recommended daily and weekly times, you can draw up a timetable for your student’s learning programme. Draw up a timetable that suits and keep it where you can see it each day. We do recognise that all circumstances are individual, and you might not find a timetable like this relevant to your family/whānau. We do know that progress is more likely to happen with very regular learning and supervisor support.
Timetable
Time Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Morning Break
Lunch
Student support payment
On behalf of the Ministry of Education, Te Kura administers a payment to
supervisors of full-time students which recognises that you supervise your
student’s learning at home. We’ve included a form in the welcome pack for
supervisors to complete and return. Additional information about the payment
is in the supervisor section on our website.
Please note there is no payment for:
• young adult students
• overseas students
• students in groups who have a paid supervisor
• individual students whose supervisor is paid by another agency, such as the
Ministry of Education
• adult students
• fee-paying students.
Years 1–6 Information Guide 15Regional events At times there are regional events, learning area competitions (e.g. Enterprise), roadshows and advisory groups which are a good opportunity for students and their supervisors to come together with learning advisors and each other. You will be notified of any events that are relevant to your student. Library Our library resources are available to full-time students living in New Zealand, their parents and their supervisors. The library has books, DVDs, magazines and audiobooks for loan. You can contact the library by calling us on 0800 65 99 88, or visiting our website at www.tekura.school.nz Dental and medical services Students are entitled to free dental service until they turn 18. This is provided by some dentists in private practice, but not all dentists are part of this scheme. You can call a dentist and ask if they are a provider under a government contract, or you can get the names of dentists who are part of the scheme by contacting your local District Health Board. Ask to speak to the Dental Services Manager. If you want your student to have a medical examination, you will need to make arrangements with the Medical Officer of Health at your local District Health Board office (You will find them listed in the front section of the phone book under Hospitals and other health service providers). You may also contact your local public health nurse. For more information on accessing dental and health care services for your student, visit the Ministry of Health’s website at www.moh.govt.nz 16 Years 1–6 Information Guide
Contacting us
Call us toll free on 0800 65 99 88 or +64 4 473 6841 from overseas.
It helps to have your student ID number handy when you call.
Email: info@tekura.school.nz
Website: www.tekura.school.nz
Email your learning advisor or teacher using this format:
firstname.surname@tekura.school.nz
Email the library: library@tekura.school.nz
You can contact the Student and Whānau Support team for online support on
0800 65 99 88, option 2 from 8am to 5pm on weekdays, or email hub@tekura.
school.nz
Write to us:
Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu
Private Bag 39992
Wellington Mail Centre
Lower Hutt 5045
New Zealand.
Posting in school work? (New Zealand students only)
Use the above address with our freepost service:
FREEPOST No.10010
[Your learning advisor or teacher’s name here]
Your learning advisor’s name:
Telephone:
Email:
Years 1–6 Information Guide 17You can also read
